Bulls Show Lackluster Effort, Routed in Sacramento

Chicago suffered it's worst and most embarrassing loss of the 2012-13 season

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The Chicago Bulls suffered their worst and most embarrassing loss in the Tom Thibodeau era as the Sacramento Kings at Sleep Train Arena beat them handily, 121-79, without their best player in DeMarcus Cousins. The listless Bulls never stood a chance as Sacramento jumped on them from the outset and outplayed the Bulls in every facet of the game.

The loss keeps the Bulls in fifth place in the Eastern Conference at 35-29, but they now find themselves in a crowded middle of the standings with the same record as both the Boston Celtics and the Atlanta Hawks.

Things don’t get any easier for the Bulls on this West Coast trip as they now head to Oakland to face the Golden State Warriors on Friday.

The Good

None.

The Bad

Chicago has been playing severely shorthanded of late as they went into the Kings game missing three key players: Taj Gibson (left knee sprain), Rip Hamilton (back spasms) and Kirk Hinrich (foot). Still, there is no excuse for the lack of effort from the rest of the team that was on display on Wednesday.

The Ugly

Chicago shot 39 percent in the game and allowed Sacramento to shoot 54 percent. The Kings dominated scoring in the paint, 50-38, was +6 in second-chance points 13-7 and were +10 in transition scoring 27-17. The Bulls were a pathetic 2-21 (9.5 percent) from beyond the three-point arc and turned the ball over 17 times to which the Kings scored 23 points off Chicago’s giveaways. Marco Belinelli had his worst outing, maybe as a pro, going 0-9 from the field and was held scoreless in the game. Jimmy Butler (six points, two rebounds) also struggled shooting the ball, going 2-10 from the field. There is so much more in this game that qualifies as “ugly,” but we’d rather just stop here so as not to depress you any further.

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